Editors' Note: The news over the last few weeks has been, to put it mildly, not great, at least for anyone interested in the survival of democracy and the rule of law. The bent Republican Supreme Court installed itself as the arbiter of all Executive Branch action. Then it declared that the Constitution, despite explicit provision to the contrary, put the President above the criminal law. Then it began to appear as if the election would be delivered to the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist who proposes mobilizing heavily-armed troops to round up, incarcerate, and deport undocumented men, women, and children. Finally, while no one was looking, the Tangerine-Faced Felon's brain trust, to use the term loosely, proposed a national abortion ban, including criminalizing the use or interstate shipment of safe, effective abortion medication. At this rate we may find ourselves in 2025 facing the collapse of both the rule of law and democratic government. What then?
Amazingly enough, it's happened before in the 254-year history of the Spy. How did we respond? Sometimes, pretty well, as recounted in this issue from 1854.
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Adv. - Lecture Tonight: “The Papist Threat” at Durgin-Park Market Dining Rooms. Free coffee-flavored gelatin with purchase of six draft ales.  ⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻  By a Concerned Son of Liberty The infernal claws of the Slave Power once again reached their blood-drenched talons into the Cradle of Liberty with the arrest of a free and peaceable Negro man, one Anthony Burns, for the crime of seeking to engage in the rights of all men to live freely and peaceably in these United States.
In this odious work the Slave Power was aided immeasurably by the Federal Government under the dithering “leadership” of New Hampshire's shame, Franklin Pierce. In violation of every dictate of natural and God's law, Pierce's minions carried out the cruel instructions of Mr. Burns's slavemaster, who had learned that Mr. Burns had escaped his bondage and had found gainful employment in the free City of Boston. The outrage transpired thusly: on the 24th one U.S. Commissioner Edward G. Loring issued a warrant purportedly authorizing the arrest of Anthony Burns on the claim of Charles F. Suttle of Alexandria, Va. alleging that Mr. Burns was a fugitive from his “service” (by which Mr. Suttle meant enslavement). On the evening of that day, deputies of the United States Marshal apprehended Mr. Burns at the corner of Brattle and Court Streets, not on suspicion of commission of a crime, but solely due to Mr. Burns's supposed status as a “chattel property” of the eminent Virginian. The next morning at a hearing held for the sole purposes of establishing Mr. Suttle's claim to his “property” (by which was meant the sentient human Anthony Burns), and not for any purpose related to the administration of justice, Mr. Burns requested an adjournment of one day so that he could procure counsel, as his life and liberty were at stake in the instant proceedings, and was granted an adjournment of one day and held in custody. That evening (Friday) an immense meeting of concerned citizens was held at Faneuil Hall and spilled out into the Quincy Market and adjoining public spaces. Among the many distinguished Bostonians addressing the assemblage were Theodore Parker and Wendell Phillips. Whilst Mr. Phillips was holding forth, magnificently in the view of his audience, a voice from the gallery cried out that a large body of Negroes were storming the Court House to rescue Mr. Burns and spirit him to a place of refuge. The Reverend Phillips' exhortations to avoid violence even in a cause as worthy as Mr. Burns's fell on some deaf ears, the owners of which adjourned to Court Square to support the efforts of liberation. The guards had locked and fortified the Court House, and from a third floor window a pistol shot rang out. This excited the crowd, which procured a large joist with which to break down the door. The accomplices of the kidnapper, all armed to the teeth, resisted the crowd. At this juncture a posse of constabulary from the Center Watch House arrived and arrested several in the crowd. Further pistol shots were heard, once of which reportedly found its mark and mortally struck one of the kidnappers named James Batchelder. It was not clear whether he had been felled by fire from the crowd or from one of his own accomplices, which would be a fitting end for such as he. (Later examination by medical officers determined that he had been stabbed by persons unknown.) The next morning at 11, the hearing resumed before Commissioner Loring. Mr. Burns appeared well, although he carries upon his person the marks and scars inflicting by his brutal master, whom has been reliably reported to be among the most inhuman slavers in the Alexandria area, which must be indeed a hotly-contested laurel. Mr. Burns appeared at the hearing in hand cuffs and closely guarded by five rough-looking deputies. His counsel sought and received a further adjournment to Monday morning, despite the protestations of the kidnappers' counsel, who noted that these proceedings were intended to be “summary,” or in other words, that if the law were applied as intended, the proceedings would not be sullied by even the appearance of justice.
Also that Saturday in the Police Court, nine alleged rioters were arraigned, although no witnesses appeared against them. The nine were remanded into custody to await the production of evidence, if any, against them. On Monday, a contingent of lovers of liberty from Worcester arrived in Court Square and there paraded peacefully. While Mayor Smith urged Bostonians to cooperate in the maintenance of peace and good order, even if such good order entailed the return of Mr. Burns to bondage, Alderman Williams tabled a resolution calling on the Mayor to instruct U.S. Judge Sprague to release Mr. Burns and for the contingent of Marines aiding and abetting the kidnappers to stand down. By a vote of six to five, the resolution was defeated. In court that day, it transpired that a group of worthy men of business had subscribed for a total of $1,200 to purchase Mr. Burns's freedom from his enslaver. The kidnappers however, desolated by the potential loss of their ransom, refused to release Mr. Burns at any price. Without remedy from an unjust law, and with the city occupied by heavily armed Federal troops, the proceedings soon reached their dismal conclusion: Mr. Burns was turned over to the tender mercies of his slaver and marched in manacles through the silent streets of Boston to a waiting Federal revenue cutter, which had been detailed from its ordinary and valuable public services to enable the re-enslavement of Mr. Burns. How much longer the citizens of this Commonwealth will be willing to permits such outrages to be perpetrated within its boundaries by vicious, greedy men aided by specimens such as Franklin Pierce, willing to prostrate himself before the Slave Power, is anyone's guess. What your correspondent knows for sure though is that this status quo is intolerable to all men who treasure liberty over the operation of a monstrous and unjust law. Information from Rev. Phillips's Liberator was used in the preparation of this dispatch. ************************************************************************************************ ADVT: Comely Irish lasses sought for interesting work at gentlemen's club. Friendly, open disposition a requirement. Free room and board for the right girls. Apply in person at Somerset Club, Beacon St. Ask for Mr. Apley. |
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